Benjamin Ward Spilsbury (1 August 1864 – 15 August 1938) was an English international

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

Early life

Spilsbury was born at Findern,

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It borders Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire, and South Yorkshire to the north, Nottinghamshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south-east, Staffordshire to the south a ...

, son of the Reverend Benjamin Ward. Spilsbury was an all-round athlete at

Rossall School Rossall School is a private Day school, day and boarding school, boarding school in the United Kingdom for 0–18 year olds, between Cleveleys and Fleetwood, Lancashire. Rossall was founded in 1844 by St. Vincent Beechey, St Vincent Beechey as a ...

and later

Repton School Repton School is a 13–18 co-educational, private, boarding and day school in the public school tradition, in Repton, Derbyshire, England. Sir John Port of Etwall, on his death in 1557, left funds to create a grammar school which was th ...

, where he played football,

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

and athletics. At Repton he was school champion four times in

long jump The long jump is a track and field event in which athletes combine speed, strength and agility in an attempt to leap as far as possible from a takeoff point. Along with the triple jump, the two events that measure jumping for distance as a gr ...

, and in 1882 he broke the school record. He enrolled at

Jesus College, Cambridge Jesus College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Jesus College was established in 1496 on the site of the twelfth-century Benedictine nunnery of St Radegund's Priory, Cambridge, St ...

, playing football for

Cambridge University The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

from 1884 to 1887. In his last year at the university, he was also captain of the team.

Career

Spilsbury made his debut for the international team against

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

on 28 February 1885. Spilsbury played three games for

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

, and scored five goals. His biggest game for England came in 1886, when he scored four of England's goals in a 6–1 win over

Derby County

After representing

and his country, he played games for Derby County from 1884 to 1889. He is best remembered for scoring the first recorded Derby goal in 1884. In total he played eight FA cup games, scoring seven FA cup goals. He also played one league game, scoring one goal. Spilsbury played a major role in the FA Cup in the years before League football. Inside-right had proved a problem position for Derby County to fill and, by the end of the year, 1888, Derby County had already tried five different players at that position. The last had been Alexander Higgins, known as Sandy Higgins but as the visit to

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club (commonly referred to as simply Villa) is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club, founded in 1874, compete in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The team have p ...

approached (29 December 1888), Higgins was not available, so Derby County called up Spilsbury to make his League debut. Aston Villa dominated the first half and were 2–0 up by the halfway mark in the first-half. Spilsbury then scored what was described as a fine goal, to put Derby County back in contention. As the first-half came to an end, despite some "fine saves" by Derby County goalkeeper, Joseph Marshall, Aston Villa re-established their two-goal lead. The second half was more even. Villa dominated the early exchanges ad went 4–1 up. Derby County came back into the match and George Bakewell got a second goal for Derby County to make the final score look more respectable. The match against Aston Villa was Spilsbury' only League match. His goal was his only League goal. Spilsbury played one more time for Derby County. He was selected to replace Thomas Needham for the FA Cup first round tie against non-League Derby Junction F.C. The match was played on 2 February 1889 and Derby County won 1–0. Derby County finished 10th in the Football League scoring 41 goals, and went out of the FA Cup in the second round. (registration & fee required)

Life after sport

After his playing career was over, he moved to Canada, where he worked as an estate agent. He died at North Vancouver in August 1938 aged 74.

England career

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Spilsbury, Benjamin 1864 births 1938 deaths People from Findern People educated at Rossall School People educated at Repton School Alumni of Jesus College, Cambridge English men's footballers Footballers from Derbyshire Men's association football inside forwards England men's international footballers Derby County F.C. players Cambridge University A.F.C. players